Greco-Persian Wars
- Period
- 499–449 BC
- Sides
- Achaemenid Persia vs Greek city-states
- Battles
- 12
The Greco-Persian Wars, also called the Persian Wars, were a series of armed conflicts involving various Greek city-states and the Achaemenid Empire from 499 BC to 449 BC. The precipitating collision between the fractious political world of ancient Greece and the enormous empire of ancient Persia had begun when the Persian king Cyrus the Great conquered the Greek-inhabited region of Ionia in 547 BC. As they struggled to exert authority over the independent-minded Ionian cities, the Persians appointed Greek tyrants to rule each of them, though this would prove to be the source of much trouble for the Greeks and the Persians alike.
Sources: Wikipedia — Greco-Persian Wars · CC BY-SA 4.0
Battles 12
499 BC
Siege of Naxos (499 BC)
The siege of Naxos was a failed attempt by the Milesian tyrant Aristagoras, operating with support from, and in the name of the Persian Empire of Darius the Great, to conquer the island of Naxos. It was the opening act of the Greco-Persian Wars, which would ultimately last for 50 years.
498 BC
Battle of Ephesus (498 BC)
The Battle of Ephesus took place in 498 BC between Persian and Greek forces during the Ionian revolt. The Persians defeated the Greek army and compelled the Athenians and Eretrians to abandon their alliance with the Ionians.
498 BC
Siege of Sardis (498 BC)
The siege of Sardis was the first major engagement of the Ionian Revolt. An allied Greek army launched an attack on the Persian satrapal capital of Sardis but were ultimately repelled by Persian forces, however most of the city was set alight during the siege.
494 BC
Battle of Lade
The Battle of Lade was a naval battle which occurred during the Ionian Revolt, in 494 BC. It was fought between an alliance of the Ionian cities and the Persian Empire of Darius the Great, and resulted in a decisive victory for the Persians which all but ended the revolt.
490 BC
Battle of Marathon
The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BCE during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, against a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. The battle was the culmination of the first attempt by Persia under King Darius I to subjugate Greece. The Greek army inflicted a crushing defeat on the more numerous Persians, marking a turning point in the Greco-Persian Wars.
490 BC
Siege of Eretria
The siege of Eretria took place in 490 BC, during the first Persian invasion of Greece. The city of Eretria, on Euboea, was besieged by a strong Persian force under the command of Datis and Artaphernes.
480 BC
Battle of Thermopylae
The Battle of Thermopylae was fought in 480 BC at Thermopylae between the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Xerxes and an alliance of Greek city-states led by Sparta under Leonidas I. Lasting over the course of three days, it was one of the most prominent battles of both the second Persian invasion of Greece and the wider Greco-Persian Wars.
480 BC
Battle of Salamis
The Battle of Salamis was a naval battle fought in 480 BC, between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles, and the Achaemenid Empire under King Xerxes. It resulted in a victory for the outnumbered Greeks.
480 BC
Battle of Artemisium
The Battle of Artemisium or Artemision was a series of naval engagements over three days during the second Persian invasion of Greece. The battle took place simultaneously with the land battle at Thermopylae, in August or September 480 BC, off the coast of Euboea and was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, including Sparta, Athens, Corinth and others, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I.
479 BC
Battle of Plataea
The Battle of Plataea was the final land battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place in August 479 BC near the city of Plataea in Boeotia, and was fought between an Achaemenid army led by Mardonius and the Spartan-led Hellenic alliance including Athens, Corinth, Tegea, Megara and other city-states.
479 BC
Battle of Mycale
The Battle of Mycale was one of the two major battles that ended the second Persian invasion of Greece during the Greco-Persian Wars. It took place on 27 or 28 August, 479 BC on the slopes of Mount Mycale, which is located on the coast of Ionia opposite the island of Samos. The battle was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, including Sparta, Athens and Corinth; and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I.
466 BC
Battle of the Eurymedon
The Battle of the Eurymedon was a double battle, taking place both on water and land, between the Delian League of Athens and her Allies, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I. It took place in either 469 or 466 BCE, in the vicinity of the mouth of the Eurymedon River in Pamphylia, Asia Minor. It forms part of the Wars of the Delian League, itself part of the larger Greco-Persian Wars.
Earlier and later events nearby
- c. 1200 BCLate Bronze Age collapse
- 776 BCFirst Olympic Games
- 508 BCReforms of Cleisthenes and Athenian democracy
- 499–449 BCGreco-Persian WarsThis page
- 490 BCBattle of Marathon
- 480 BCBattle of Thermopylae
- 264–241 BCFirst Punic War
Who ruled this land
States that held this place in the historical borders data (Cliopatria). Years are approximate, as fine as the data's snapshots (every few years to a century). Tap to open the map for that year.
- 1500–1200 BCMycenaean Greece
- 1100–850 BCGreek Dark Ages
- 800–400 BCAncient GreeceThis page
- 350 BCThebes
- 300 BCMacedonia
- 250 BCAetolian League
- 200–150 BCAncient Greece
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- 1380Crown of Aragon
- 1400Republic of Venice
- 1420–1440Crown of Aragon
- 1460–1825Ottoman Empire
- 1830–1940First Hellenic Republic
- 1942Kingdom of Italy
- 1944Nazi Germany
- 1946–1966Kingdom of Greece
- 1968–1974Greek junta
- 1976 –Third Hellenic Republic